Light and dawn

Following the Magic Tower's announcement, before people could even marvel at this novel creation, they were drawn in by what it broadcast.

Meanwhile, the burly man who had clung to Kumata back then gazed around his empty home. He had already given up hope, but now he resolutely stepped outside and headed for his district's administrative office. Whether the announcement was true or not, this was his only hope for revenge.

As more and more wronged citizens entered the district offices, the offices grew increasingly crowded. Those with grievances recounted them, while those without listened to stories of perfectly happy families destroyed by noble lords simply because they owned a few acres of good farmland, had a beautiful wife or daughter, or possessed some precious heirloom. Every listener was filled with righteous indignation!

The Priests swiftly and carefully recorded the people and events the citizens described, their pens flying as they worked without respite. Fortunately, the Truth Spell spared them most of the burden. Otherwise, they would have had to verify every account individually, and the public trial might have been postponed indefinitely.

Time flew amid the constant bustle, and the fifteenth quietly arrived. To allow more citizens to witness the trials, the city's central Judgment Hall had no choice but to move the proceedings to Central Square.

The sky remained overcast, and a light rain pattered down. A simple raised platform had been erected in Central Square. Holy Knights stood tall around it, enclosing it in a tight ring to prevent anyone with ill intentions from rescuing these noble jackals.

Dense crowds of citizens filled the surrounding area, all waiting for the trials to begin.

The Holy Knights brought the nobles before the platform. After several days of imprisonment, they were weak all over. A middle-aged man wearing white robes embroidered with a golden Holy Light emblem on his chest approached the judge's bench.

"Hello, everyone! I am Priest Jimu, and I will be presiding over these trials!" Jimu spoke into a faintly glowing ball of light about the size of a fist on the table. At the same time, his voice rang out from the Magic Towers in every district.

Although the crowd below had grown accustomed to the Magic Towers' wonders, they had not expected this public trial to be broadcast across the entire city on such a grand scale.

"These public trials will be conducted fairly and impartially. We will not wrong a single innocent person or let a single wrongdoer escape! I therefore ask all defendants and plaintiffs below to speak honestly and stick to the facts.

"Now, let Viscount Charles take the defendant's stand, and let the aggrieved party, elderly Mr. Ishihara, take the plaintiff's stand!

"Viscount Charles, the plaintiff, elderly Mr. Ishihara, accuses you of breaking his eldest son's legs in your attempt to seize his family's hundred mu of fertile farmland. When his younger son resisted you in anger over the harm done to his elder brother, he was killed by a Samurai under your command. Do you have any explanation for your actions?"

"Hmph. They were just a bunch of lowborn scum. So what if I killed them?" Charles said arrogantly.

"Then you admit it," Jimu said flatly.

Charles haughtily turned his head aside, as though arguing with commoners was beneath him.

Jimu asked no further questions and announced the verdict directly. "For the crime of intentional murder, the Judgment Hall hereby sentences Charles to death. His accomplice, Samurai Jiji, shall be executed alongside him immediately!"

With that, two Holy Knights forcibly escorted them toward the Execution Platform nearby. Only then did Viscount Charles realize what was happening. His lips trembled as he tried to say something, but his noble pride kept him from making a disgraceful spectacle of himself before so many commoners and becoming their laughingstock. Only after he was brought onto the Execution Platform and bound to a stone pillar did he cry out in terror, but it was already too late.

A Priest raised his staff high. "Holy Light Judgment Technique!" A massive beam of light descended from the sky and struck Viscount Charles and the Samurai. Both howled in agony as though scorched by the blazing sun, until they crumbled to ash within the white light.

The remaining nobles blanched. Terrified, they abandoned all concern for their noble pride and began pleading loudly for mercy!

"Silence! Everyone, be silent!" Jimu roared. "These trials are fair and impartial. Everyone may argue their case in court! We will deliver appropriate judgments based on evidence and testimony. Under the witness of the Holy Light, no lie or sophistry can hide!"

Once the court finally quieted, Jimu swept his gaze over it and said, "Now, let us proceed to the next defendant!"

As time ticked by, the nobles were sentenced one after another in the face of the citizens' irrefutable evidence. Some received death sentences, while others were sentenced to ten or twenty years in prison! Watching the nobles reduced to beaten dogs, the crowd below cheered. Suddenly, it felt as though the mountain that had weighed on them had been lifted away, leaving them utterly at ease!

That evening, Kumata brought his two troublemaking friends to the city's most popular barbecue restaurant with a bitter expression. He had only his own loose tongue to blame.

Axel and Shishu happily slung their arms around each other. Seeing Kumata stop outside the restaurant, Axel teased him shamelessly. "Come on, Kumata, let's go in! Why are you standing outside? Don't tell me you expect me to pay! Hahaha!" The more he spoke, the more delighted he felt, until he burst out laughing.

"Let's get this straight first, Commander. Once I treat you to this meal, you've got to help a brother out and arrange an opportunity!" Kumata suddenly changed his attitude and smiled ingratiatingly.

"Relax, you big oaf. Just make sure we get plenty of good food and drink! Muzawa Nako is in Mina's Priest corps. I'll put in a word with Mina later. You're not bad yourself, kid. You're a senior Holy Knight, after all. As long as you two find each other attractive, you should make a good match..." At that point, Axel looked Kumata over, sounding less certain.

"Hey, hey, hey! Commander, what's with that look? Are you looking down on me?" Kumata protested loudly.

"Commander, stop talking already. I'm starving! I barely ate lunch just to save room for this meal!" Shishu impatiently pushed the two of them into the restaurant.

"What would you gentlemen like to eat?" the waiter greeted them warmly.

"Chicken, beef, lamb chops! Bring them quickly, we're starving. Oh, and a few bottles of pineapple juice, the freshest you've got!" Shishu ordered like a regular.

The other two looked at his impatience and shook their heads helplessly. He really was still a child. All he knew was eating, without the slightest understanding of romance!

The three quickly took their seats and waited for the waiter to bring their food, exchanging a few idle remarks now and then.

"Yahiko, what are we eating today?" Konan asked happily.

"Let's have beef!" Yahiko answered promptly. Beside him, Nagato nodded silently.

The waiter then seated the three of them at the table beside Axel's group.

Axel studied the three curiously. Sensing them through the Holy Power within him, he felt that they were no ordinary people. They seemed rather like ninja, but since he detected no ill intent, he paid them no further attention.

Yahiko also felt that the three men beside them had an unusual bearing. However, since Axel and his friends had come out for dinner without their armor, he could not tell why. He simply smiled and nodded to them.

Out of courtesy, Axel returned the nod.

The waiter soon brought all their dishes, and everyone dug in.

"Yahiko, the Holy Church's trials today were so satisfying! Those scumbags shouldn't even exist in this world!" Konan said angrily, pouting.

"Although I don't quite agree with it, I don't think what they did was wrong either," Yahiko replied with a frown.

Nagato looked at Yahiko in confusion. "Why don't you agree?"

"Although it seems like a good thing, it has sown new hatred! The nobles of the Land of Rain will surely hate the Holy Church. Our country is already a battleground surrounded by enemies, and now it will inevitably face internal strife. Even more people will die then."

"But if they don't do this, what should they do?" Nagato asked, his brow likewise furrowed in thought. Konan also watched Yahiko curiously, hoping for an answer from the older boy who, in her eyes, could do anything.

Hearing Yahiko's words, Kumata angrily moved to stand up and argue with this brat who knew nothing, only for Axel to firmly hold him down!

Since the Holy Church allowed considerable freedom of speech, plenty of people in the barbecue restaurant were discussing the matter. Yahiko therefore made no attempt to conceal his views and voiced them aloud:

"Teacher Jiraiya said that only through mutual understanding and greater communication can people build a peaceful world. We should help those nobles understand ordinary people's suffering and realize that what they've done is wrong, rather than antagonizing the entire nobility!"

The other diners had thought they might hear some profound insight, but instead they were left bewildered. Was this really something talking could solve?

Looking at the boy, who was about his own age, Axel rose slightly from his seat and said, "Communication only works when both sides are equals! Nobles and commoners are inherently opposing groups. Your thinking is far too naive!"

Yahiko carefully studied the fresh-faced, cheerful-looking boy and replied firmly, "The opposition you speak of only exists because they haven't understood or communicated with one another! I believe that as long as we establish a channel for communication, we can surely find a way to coexist peacefully, rather than worsening the conflict and creating even greater divisions in the Land of Rain!"

"Why do I call your thinking naive? How would you establish this channel of communication? Through the commoners? With their meager power, that's impossible! And even if such a channel existed, it would only be established through the nobles' charity. It would be unequal from the start!

"Besides, given how the nobles treat commoners like worthless weeds, expecting them to have a change of heart is impossible! Without these commoners, how could they live in luxury? Without commoners, how could they flaunt their superior status?

"Do you think they don't understand the commoners' suffering? They know. But when have meat eaters ever pitied the flesh they devour?" Axel declared loudly.

Seeing Yahiko still pondering his words, Axel continued, "Before I encountered the Holy Light, I too believed I was nothing more than a roadside weed, someone who could die a worthless death at any moment in this hopeless world.

"But when the Holy Light came, I finally understood! There really was a world where, as long as we worked hard and took our lives seriously, we could all live like human beings, living decent lives like ordinary people!"

"But what you're doing will plunge the Land of Rain into even greater turmoil, and more people will die!" Yahiko persisted.

"Then let them come! Seek peace through struggle, and peace will endure. Seek peace through compromise, and peace will vanish. The Holy Light isn't merely a gentle, healing light. It can also scorch like the blazing sun!"